Category Archives: Internet

You must have heard the Parent example for rationalizing violence, The Parent example goes like this, with little variations; “If a shopkeeper curses your father and uses —- words for your mother, will you beat the heck out of him or not?” This is most used example to justify violence especially in the cases related to Blasphemy. Well I can beat the heck out of that guy but then I will spend years in the jail. Most importantly from when the Emotional Responses become basis for actions, judge might reduce my punishment but punishment I will get. Question should not be what I will do, question should be what Law says.

Why I am telling you about this?

When I heard about Salman Taseer’s murder I was thinking it will result in huge change in Pakistan

After just few hours I know what direction we are going. In all the media not one religious scholar has clearly condemned the killing. Fazl-ur-Rehman have included the phrases, that hint that they hold Salman Taseer to be responsible for his murder. Some other religious and non-religious leaders were clearly saying that he should have been more careful in presenting his views.

Fan page has been setup on the Facebook for that murderer, he is being called Ghazi by some religious group openly, a guy on twitter is sending salutes to the killer, Adil Najam of Pakistaniat.com is getting threatening comments on his blog, the people on the news channels are rationalizing actions of Malik Mumtaz, some religious leaders are advising against offering funeral prayers, and list continuous.

It’s time to belt up and stand up against the intolerance; it’s time to start telling “No it is not Ok for some one to be whacked up for what he/she has said”

No, no one should be declared Non-Muslim for their views, it’s only their right to declare their faiths.

It’s time to start asking our leadership for condemning such actions.

If we will stand up, if we don’t speak up; we might see people been killed for even things smaller that this. I was horrified to see a guy saying those who question Blasphemy Law are hurting feelings of people of Pakistan and then in not so open phrases defending the killer. This all appeared like threat to other people who criticize Blasphemy Law made by Zia-ul-Haq.

Let’s raise the voice so that Mumtaz Qadri does not become hero, we should be strong to disallow creation of other Mumtaz Qadri’s, we should make enough noise so that people should think twice before supporting a murderer.

P.S.

I hate terrorists, not only because they kill people. But also because they make Martyr out of those who should not be respected; first Zia should have been hanged he became Shaeed, Benazir should have been tried for all the corruption and mismanagement she was made Shaheeda and now Suleman Taseer who should have been removed from governorship (for bullying the elected govt. of Punjab not on his stance against Blasphemy laws) and spend rest of days thinking about days in governorship has become Shaheed.

But all things aside, his death will play an important role here in which direction Pakistan has to go. He is high profile enough to not let the matter die for weeks. It will be interesting to know what khutbaas are given during Friday prayers; and how people react when Malik Mumtaz is tried in the courts.

‘Change the channel’ that was remark of President of Pakistan when someone asked about increasing vulgarity on the electronic media. However he himself opted for ‘Clossing the Channel’ when he found himself under fire from media.

The basic allegation against media is that media crossed line, they ridiculed people, they presented the terrorists as heroes.

As for the first allegation I remembered our dear Mr. Pervaiz Musharaf was guest on the show of John Stewart. Infact people lauded his courage of attending the show of one of the must cunning ,… I dont even have correct word, ok the Wikipedia has one word for it….., political satirist. If someone wants to look at videos on his show here is the link (John Stewart’s Shows Page, Musharaf on Show).

And if you have seen them you will know that the style of humor in it, the satire it has,….. . When Musharaf said that Media was not functioning in the circle of ‘Tehzeeb’ and that they were not respecting elders; he should remember what kind of show he attended.

The comedy shows in America use much strong words, comments , pointed-terminologies and methods. And we are talking about the country who has forces in 2 countries. Mr. Musharaf should see what are the jokes being made on the President Bush and many of them are exaggerated versions of what Mr.Bush actually did. Dont go much in Past just see what happened in the case of Gonzales.

Now about making Heroes out of terrorists:

Did American media made the Iraqi fighters hero when exposing the Abu-Gharib? I dont think so.

When American media reported that American-Forces might be involved in Haditha Massacre (Time Magazine Link) were they unpatriotic?

When they reported what war was committed on false ground were they saying that road-side bombs are justified? No.

They questioned the methodologies of war, they questioned behavior of the forces, they exposed tortures being legalized by American executives, they cornered the government on recording the private telephones.

European media went on to humiliate the government over the Iraq War, they thrashed the government for helping the Americans in transporting the people to illegal jails (known are retentions).

See we are talking about the nation that lives in fear, where one election was won on the raising the threat levels. Where they want government to act so that they dont even have to change their live styles. But they dont want it take away their rights.

How can reporters and analysts questioning the Pakistan Government’s handling of issues in the Northern Areas be regarded as ‘unpatriotic’? How can a Tv report telling that the many civilians have died by the bomb/fire of the Pakistan Airforce be making Hero out of terrorists?

When someone points that many people might be under the illegal arrest of Pakistani Inteligence agencies they are pointing out the violations of the constitution of Pakistan by the government. They might be making it clear that some decision makers are incompitent but they (reporters) are definitely not doing anything against Pakistan.

Prosecuting the media

Should media be prosecuted? yes they should be if it is thought that they have done something wrong. But for this the law already exists. PEMRA can issue notices, a person being defamed can move to court,…..

However this require the government to understand that are there not Kings of Pakistan, they have to live under the rules. They have to abide the decisions of judiciary. They cant survive by closing the transmissions whenever they want to do something big, they can not send the police to television center to thrash the windows, they cant just go on to remove the satelite equipment of media people,….

Silver Lining

The Cable structure in Pakistan is illegall or most of is. The silver lining is now the public will move towards other resources including the satelite dishes. And most importantly the Electronic Chanels will itself seek other medium for their content delivery. One of them is Internet, which was previously being ignored. Now almost every one is offering the live streaming on their websites. Aaj is present on the jumptv.com, Geo and Ary has links on their own websites. Websites like pkpolitics are emerging.

The next best thing would be that the content could be mined for tags, certain programs could streamed on demand legaly.

We have long way to go only if we stand together, the flood only distroys the fields when only one stone gives it a way. If all media owners remain with strong then they could get more out of it than just the cable transmissions.